Clinic Procedure

We operate a self-help counseling clinic that empowers tenants to learn and assert their rights under local, state, and federal law.

Nonmembers:

  • Please come to our counseling clinic during these hours.
  • See our counseling guidelines below.
  • We recommend you show up early because the shift may fill and then close.
  • Please fill out the nonmember intake form before coming to the clinic.

Members:

  • Call the members-only phone counseling number to leave a message.  If you have lost the members-only number, email and we will send it to you.  Do not email counseling questions, use the members-only phone counseling number.
  • If we do not reach you on the first call, we may only leave a message; or we may only email a response, so check your spam folder.
  • Please check your handbook before contacting us since almost all questions are answered in the handbook.
  • We may take more than a week to get back to you, so come to the counseling clinic hours if you have anything urgent.  Fill out the member intake form prior to your visit.
  • For complicated questions or questions with paperwork, come to the counseling clinic hours. Fill out the member intake form prior to your visit.

Before you visit the counseling clinic, read these important guidelines and check our posted schedule for session-specific enhanced COVID protocols:

  • Do not come to the clinic if you feel sick, or have respiratory illness, or have any reason to believe you have been exposed to COVID.
  • We recommend everyone be properly masked to enter the clinic. This means a surgical masks or better, preferably an N95. Cloth masks are not acceptable for sessions with enhanced COVID protocols where masks are REQUIRED. We recommend you bring your own mask in case clinic-donated masks are not available.
  • We recommend everyone have up-to-date vaccination, including bivalent booster, before entering the clinic.
  • You must provide PROOF of vaccination and/or you must properly wear a COVID mask in specific enhanced COVID protocol counseling sessions where these are noted as REQUIRED on our website, posted hours, or information line.

  • Tenants who cannot comply with mandatory COVID vaccination and/or mask requirements for those specific sessions should attend alternative sessions in which COVID masks are always recommended, but not obligatory, or obtain counseling by phone if they are members.

  • We do not provide legal services or advice. We can advise you of your rights as a tenant and provide a list of private attorneys if needed.

  • Do not come to the clinic if you have been served with a “Summons and Complaint For Unlawful Detainer,“ as we will not be able to assist you. Take this time-sensitive document and all your paperwork to the Eviction Defense Collaborative immediately.

  • If you are having problems with someone other than your landlord or master tenant, we suggest mediation (SF Rent Board offers free mediation: https://sfrb.org/topic-no-402-mediation) or a private attorney. We will not advise on how to evict another tenant.
  • We do not review buyout agreements.  They almost never benefit tenants.
  • If you have subsidized housing or government-controlled housing, contact Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, http://hrcsf.org. Since they do not endorse political candidates, they can accept government funding which enables them to hire specialized staff. Our political activism means that we are reliant on donations and volunteers.
  • Unfortunately, our building is not wheelchair accessible.  If you are a tenant with physical disabilities that prevent you from climbing 12 steps, please send an email to

so we can make accommodations to give you access to our services. Allow two business days for a reply.